


5 Times Peter Hid In The Closet

by orphan_account



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: BAMF Michelle Jones, Bisexual Peter Parker, Coming Out, F/M, Michelle Jones Is a Good Bro, Michelle Jones is a Little Shit, Ned Leeds is a Good Bro, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker is a Little Shit, Protective Ned Leeds, Trans Peter Parker, Transphobia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-11
Updated: 2020-03-16
Packaged: 2021-02-19 08:14:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22207912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: + Time he came outPeter Parker is transgender.Half his school knows that, and half his school makes his life hell for it. So naturally, when he falls head-over-heels for a certain Michelle Jones and starts living with Tony Stark, he decides they'll never find out, no matter what it takes. Peter can't risk that. But not everything in life is perfect. But hey, neither was he.
Relationships: Michelle Jones & Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Michelle Jones & Peter Parker, Michelle Jones/Peter Parker, Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, SPOILERS: - Relationship
Comments: 9
Kudos: 120





	1. Flash Thompson Is A Transphobic Shit (Part 87,267)

**Author's Note:**

> TW: TRANSPHOBIA, INTERNALIZED TRANSPHOBIA, ALL THAT JAZZ!
> 
> im working on something bigger rn so this is what im posting in the meantime! im excited af tbh, ill be putting the entire thing in 1 post on my tumblr, which you are free to check out!

"Oh my god, it was amazing!"

Ned had been rambling about the newest Star Wars movie, which, what from Peter had gathered, wasn't a part of the timeline? Or was it a prequel? He didn't know. Whatever it was, Ned wouldn't stop talking about it. The poster looked different, a more blueish tone, so it hadn't clicked in the boy's head that it was a movie in the series. Whatever it was, he didn't know, because he wasn't all that into Star Wars. He was more interested in if there was going to be lego sets. (Can you blame him, though?) 

The biggest difference between Peter and Ned is that Ned could name every character, race, species, planet, galaxy, ship, and even _gun_ in that stupid series. The spider-teen had _seen_ the movies, but Ned _worshipped_ them. Nothing convinced the hero that his best friend didn't have a shrine to one of the characters in his bedroom. _Mental note: check Ned's room for no Natalie Portman shrines._

They sat the table while Peter picked at his fries shaped like stars, and conversed about Ned back and forth about the latest film, smiling at his friend's excitement. Though it wasn't really his thing, he loved seeing Ned happy about what he liked.

"Hey, losers."

Peter looked up, seeing MJ drop her tray in front of them. She sat down, taking a bite of her pizza and frowning at the sudden silence. She was in her usual large military jacket, which was a bland green with a few pins on the side, and a white shirt with a black thunderbolt on it with a pink and blue stripe behind it. _Converse_ was written on the side of the bolt which was very on-brand of her, seeing that's the shoe brand she never stopped wearing. The male brunette's face went bright red.

Peter had a crush on MJ for almost a year now, but it had mostly been from afar, as most of his crushes were. But MJ started talking to them, which started to throw a wrench in the plan of never telling anyone about his crushes, ever. But Ned knew all about it, so that was an exception. 

"Um, hi-" Peter started, heart pounding in his chest. He was, of course, cut off by his overexcited friend.

"Did you see the new Star Wars movie?!" Ned asked, leaning over the table. His eyes were like a doe's and he almost knocked over Peter's chocolate milk by standing up so fast. MJ sat down, one leg over the seat normally and the other on the seat, with her elbow on her knee. She snorted, taking one of the boy's fries. She paused, twirling the fry in the air as if she was in deep thought, though they all knew that was bullshit. 

"Uh, Rogue three?" She asked, a big smirk on her face. She knew damn well what it was called, but Ned didn't pick up on her sarcasm and he sighed exasperatedly, head in his hands. He glared at Peter, and then to MJ, and sighed even louder.

"Do I have to deal with two people not knowing the best movie series ever created?" Ned threw his hands up in the air, frustrated. "You two are so uncultured! I feel like I'm the most woke one here-" Peter wrinkled his nose. _Woke? Really?_ "That's it, next time we all hang out, you guys are watching them. Every single movie. All eleven. I refuse to deal with two people who don't know George Lucas's amazingness."

MJ opened her drink, shrugging. "Well, Ned, that's what you got when you signed up to be our friends."

Thinking back to the last time she'd spoken to them at the table, the spider interjected. He frowned, furrowing his brows. He tried not to scare her off, but he had to fact check her logic. "But I thought you said you don't have any friends?"

"Well," She set down the smoothie, making creepily casual eye contact with Peter. "I do now, huh?"

* * *

MJ had suddenly engraved herself into the two's friend group, and of course, neither of the boys rejected it. They let her in with open arms because if she could deal with them going on rambles about Tony Stark (which were mostly Ned) and old movies (also mostly Ned), she had earned herself a place at the table. She sat with them at lunch every day and was currently planning to go to the movies that weekend at a nearly run-down mall not too far from their respective areas.

"Okay, so we'll meet up at the mall, look around, and then go to the movies?" MJ asked, taking a bite of her fruit cup. "Seems kinda boring. I mean, I totally love you guys, but you two are the most boring people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing.

"But we can meet up a good amount of time before the movie even starts so we can look at stuff. I heard the mall's shutting all the stores except the movie theater and that huge game store, so everything's gonna be on sale."

"Yeah, but it'll just be the shitty stuff nobody wants." She retorted.

"We can always go to my house after?" Peter added. He was currently doing the math homework he'd been putting off until the last minute, but he still had time to give in his two cents. "May's leaving for the weekend and I was gonna go to the compound, but I can just stay at my apartment and we hang there?"

"You're gonna turn down Tony Stark to go see Hidden Figures?" Ned frowned. "You could just wait until it comes out on DVD. You wanna miss that?"

"Well, yeah? You two are my friends, I can just go next weekend." Peter shrugged, stuffing his mouth with weirdly bright Jell-O. "It's no big deal, dude."

"But it's Tony Stark! You should just go to his place and we can do this all another time-"

"Maybe he can come over to your apartment to babysit." MJ shrugged, a grin growing behind her water bottle. Peter gasped, basically offended. He swallowed his food before shaking his head profusely.

"No, no, _chaperone_ , Tony Stark doesn't baby-"

A hand slammed on their table and Peter didn't dare look up at its owner. Peter's words swept away, leaving him silent and eyes darting down at the freckled table. All the energy they had going had suddenly fallen faster than Peter's heart into his shoes. _God, please just be some decathlon kid grilling me for missing the last meeting-_

"Hey, shemale." 

Peter's school wasn't exactly trans-friendly. And neither was his grade. Especially his classmates. Peter came out in the middle of eighth grade and was doing fine going stealth until someone had told everyone he was trans, which made things relentless for months. They called him names and deadnamed him, even though they knew he was going by Peter now and Peter only. Flash made it suck ass until summer finally came around. Peter had gotten threats, but nothing serious. Just annoying kids telling him they'd beat him up (because he'd gotten one of their goons suspended for talking about Peter's... body. True story. Another time.) But this time, Peter was optimistic. New semester, new Peter, right? MJ didn't know, anyway. 

Hopefully.

"Go away, Flash." MJ interrupted. She stood up, glaring at him. Flash didn't back down, leaning on Peter's shoulder as she spoke, the smug smile still growing on his face. He, obviously, didn't know she was now in power of his spot on the decathlon team yet. "I assure you, nobody cares. Get off him."

"Oh, don't you mean _her_? Get off _her_ , right, tr-."

"Didn't I just say nobody cares?" MJ was much taller than Flash, who was nearing the shortest guy in the grade. She took a step closer, towering over him at her average height. "Get out of here before I make you second sub until the day you graduate."

"I-"

"Say one more word, it's goodbye to the decathlon team. I mean that." The two held solid eye contact for a moment until Flash put his hands up and slowly backed off, scoffing nervously.

Peter felt like he could breathe again, surprisingly, but was heavily unsure whether to thank her and make things more awkward or just let it slide. But Peter was a coward. "Thanks." He murmured as she lowered herself back onto her seat. Peter spun his straw in the milk, not hungry anymore. Just... embarrassed. Ned frowned, but MJ filled the space for conversation.

"Why does he call you 'she'?"

_Oh, thank god she doesn't know. For once she isn't so perceptive. Thank you._

Ned piped up, nonchalant. "Because he's-" Peter slapped a hand over Ned's mouth and the back of his head, speaking quickly.

"' Cuz it's Flash, he- he does that to all the guys who don't play sports." Peter blurted, kicking Ned's shin under the table, who recoiled. "He's always done that."

When MJ shrugged and went on with the conversation, taking a long drink from her smoothie, Peter let out a sigh of relief. The topic was dropped and the conversation was over. Peter stared at his food, suddenly not hungry anymore at his stupid, stupid secret being leaked. Leaked? Leaked. MJ didn't know. And she hopefully wouldn't. At least, not for a long, long time.

_Fucking Flash, of all people._


	2. 2. Anxiety is a Bitch. (When is it Not?)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter has some self-doubt about coming out. But with the team, his gender isn't the problem. Apparently, it's his sexuality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im just now getting back into writing so pls leave reviews i wrote this all in a day  
> also peter parker is trans and bi and you literally cant change my mind

  
It was 'guys weekend' at the compound, which made things even worse for how Peter felt. Of course, it's not like Tony was kicking everyone out, but it just happened that Pepper, Natasha, and Wanda were all out of town for the week. Pepper was at a conference, Natasha visiting friends, and Wanda was... off the grid. Peter made a mental note to Snap her when he got the chance.

Peter leaned against the counter, twirling his spoon absently in his cup of yogurt (his afternoon snack for the day). He stared off into space, his mind clouding up. _You could just say it. 'Hey. I'm transgender. I've been on testosterone for six months now.' That's it. Answer any questions, which_ god _I hope they don't have._ Peter bit his lip. _It'll be fine. I'm just overreacting._

_They'll be weird about it, though. I know they will. Fuck._

_No, it'll be fine. It'll be fine! They won't care._

_No, they'll kick me out and-_

"-Pete?"

"Huh?" Peter asked, looking up. The three men on the couch had their eyes on him and Tony's hand was on his shoulder, and Peter wondered how he hadn't noticed any sooner.

"You okay? Steve's asking you a question."

"No, yeah, I'm- I'm fine. What's up?"

"I was just asking how school was."

Peter hesitated. "It's good, it's- I mean, it's school. It's easy." Peter shrugged, eyes going back into his yogurt. Nobody seemed satisfied with his answer.

"You got a girlfriend yet?" Clint asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Or a boyfriend!" Tony corrected. "Peter's bisexual."

Peter pursed his lips, holding back a sigh. "Mr. Stark, you don't need to announce it at every occasion."

"Why not? I'm proud of you!"

"I know you are, but- it's not your information to share." Peter let out a laugh. "But, no, yeah, I'm... um, still single."

"Not even a crush on anyone?" Clint frowned, trying to coax _something_ out of the teenager.

Peter's ears burned. "No." 

"Mmhmm." Tony hummed sarcastically. The billionaire had picked up on the way Peter spoke about some of his friends or classmates but thankfully didn't say anything. Peter would've killed him if he did. "Who wants dinner?"

\---

Peter sat on the floor in front of the couch like the dumb zoomer he was and fidgeted his thumbs. _What if they think it's weird? Steve probably doesn't know what it is. And Tony probably thinks it's weird. I had to explain to him what bisexual meant._

_No, he generally knew. He thought it was just guys and girls, as most people do, but no, he knew. Peter, you're being dumb. It's fine. It's fine._

A hand tousled his hair as the devil and angel on Peter's shoulders fought it out. "You alright, buddy? You're really quiet." Tony asked in a quiet voice, breaking the kid's reverie. Peter hesitantly nodded, realizing he'd been absently staring at his phone which had been off for who knows how long.

"Sorry. Just zoning out." He murmured, looking around, trying to see if anyone else had noticed his absence in conversation. Steve was fixated on the TV and Clint literally could not give a fuck if he tried to.

"You seem stressed."

Peter let out a sigh mixed with laughter. "Yeah. I... guess I am."

"About what? School?"

"Um, kinda. Just life stuff. It's nothing, I'm okay." Peter gave a small smile to prove he was fine. The adult nodded, not totally convinced but letting it go. Tony was always good about knowing when to step back.

Peter bit his lip, looking up at the TV, drowning in his worries.

\---

Later that night, near midnight, Peter went to go grab a drink, because hiding in his room was starting to give him cabin fever. He froze when he heard whispers.

"Tony, you said Peter's bisexual, right?"

_Shit. See, I knew they'd think it's weird. I fucking knew it. And now they're gonna go down the rabbit hole and say you sound like a girl and they'll know-_

"Yeah, what about it?" The fridge door rattled with drinks inside. They're in the kitchen. 

"What does it... mean?"

"Well, in his words, it means he likes girls, guys, whatever. Some people identify as uh, non-binary I think it is? It's like neither gender. But bisexual means you're attracted to more than one gender, basically. Girls, guys, non-binary, whatever."

"You don't think that's weird, do you?"

There was a pause and then Tony's voice was very accusatory. "No, why would I? Do _you_ think it's weird?"

"No, I don't!"

"You sure fucking sound like it, you always have a problem with whatever he does!"

"I do not, Tony. You're making that up."

"It took you so long to come around to him being on the team-"

Peter hated the sound of people fighting. It made his anxiety go haywire, which right now, was already bad enough. He didn't want to interrupt but didn't want to hear them argue since he could hear from the doorway of his bedroom with his freaky super-hearing. 

Peter entered the living room, running his thumbs over the side of his index finger. Steve's eyes darted to him, making Tony (who was in Steve's face, obviously angry) turn around and step away. "Oh, hey underoos."

"I just... was coming for a drink."

"What can I getcha, kiddo?" 

"Just..." He glanced at Steve, sort of weirded out how fast Tony turned around and acted like all was fine. "Can you just hand me a juice box?"

Tony tossed it to him and Peter unwrapped the straw, piercing it in and throwing the plastic wrap away. Peter shuffled back down the hallway, mentally cursing himself out for causing a fight in the first place. His heart sunk in his chest and as he reached his doorway, he heard one last retort.

"Well, great, Tony. I bet he doesn't want to even be on the team after that."

\---

Peter was up late that night, to say the least.

He was on his ceiling, sighing. Tony had installed little nooks and bars to hang from around his ceiling to let him hang more comfortably. He could sit on the ceiling normally, but he appreciated the gesture. The hammock was his favorite.

Speaking of which, he was curled in the said hammock with his blue and red blanket someone had made him (he freaked out over it, of course, it meant so much to him) and was staring off into the distance, dysphoria sitting as a small bowling ball in his stomach. He tried to distract himself by going through his phone, but at some wack ass time in the morning, Tony interrupted.

The door creaked open, and Tony apparently didn't see him. The hammock was on the opposite side of the room and away from his bed, but he was still in view. He looked around, confused until he realized Peter had been sleepily staring at him with his doe eyes. "Hey, bud."

"Hi, Mr. Stark."

"Why are you awake?" He asked. "It's almost two in the morning."

"Just couldn't sleep." Peter shrugged, looking away and down at the blanket. It wasn't _that_ outrageous to still be awake. The fight had been less than a half-hour earlier. The spider-boy climbed out of the hammock, dropping to the floor but still using his spider-blanket as a shield, draping from his shoulders.

Tony was walking over as if to wrap the teen in a hug, but the boy just flopped onto his bed, expanding the space between the two. Peter buried his cheek in the pillow, facing away from his mentor.

"I'm sorry, Pete. I shouldn't have let him say those things."

It clicked. Tony thought Peter was mad about the fight, not something else. But Peter was a little stung. He sat up, making abrupt eye contact with the adult. "Does Steve not want me on the team?"

"Oh, kiddo, of course, he does." Tony wrapped his arms around Peter, his head on the adult's shoulder as he spoke. "He's just stubborn. He's mad at me so he's mad at you."

"Why does he live here if he doesn't like you?"

"It's just old stuff. Everyone else on the team has come back and adapted, but he's an old man. He'll come around, I'm sure he'll love you as everyone else does. Like I do."

Peter looked at his feet. "You aren't mad at me?"

"Pete, why would I ever be mad at you?"

"I started the fight, I didn't have to-"

"No, I want you to be proud of yourself. I want you to be happy and be confident and show off who you are. You don't have to hide things to be around here, okay? Whether you want to use a different label or hell, no labels at all, you're still Peter Parker. And you're still gonna stay here."

Peter stayed quiet, trying to force himself to speak. But Tony accepted the silence and didn't move, and not commenting on tears welling in his kid's eyes and the shadow in the doorway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> steve aint no biphobe , periodt

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading!!  
> 


End file.
